How to Check Supplement Ingredients Against Your Allergies and Medicines

Start with your own list: medicines, allergies, other supplements

Before buying, check the ingredients against three things: your prescribed medicines, your allergies, and anything else you already take. Duplication is common — several products containing zinc, for instance, can quietly push you past the upper limit.

Writing down everything you take, with doses, is a short task that pays for itself the first time a pharmacist reads it.

Allergens and additives: what else is in the capsule?

Excipients, fillers, capsule shells and colours are all part of what you swallow. Gelatine capsules are animal-derived, which matters for halal, kosher and vegetarian requirements. Lactose, soy, gluten and shellfish derivatives appear in supplements and matter for allergies.

Effervescent products often carry significant sodium. Gummies carry sugar. Both are worth knowing about for daily use.

• Capsule shell — gelatine or vegetable cellulose
• Allergen declarations: shellfish, soy, gluten, lactose, nuts
• Sweeteners, colours and preservatives
• Sodium content in effervescent formats

Which plant or nutrient form is it?

For a botanical, find the full botanical name and the plant part. Ginseng, African potato, wild yam and devil’s claw all cover multiple species with different properties.

For a nutrient, find the chemical form. Vitamin D3 or D2, magnesium citrate or oxide, iron as fumarate or sulphate — each behaves differently.

Are you doubling up on the same nutrient?

Locate the amount per serving and check how many capsules make a serving. For minerals, look specifically for the elemental figure.

Then add up the same nutrient across everything you take — a multivitamin, a joint formula and a men’s formula can each carry zinc — and compare the total with the daily upper limit on our ingredient pages.

How to get the full composition before the parcel is sent

The full composition and daily dose are printed on the pack. If you order through the seller’s order page, the adviser reads the ingredient list out on the confirmation call, so you can check it against your allergies and medicines before the parcel is sent.

When the parcel arrives, compare the label with what you were told — with payment on delivery, you do this before you pay.

Frequently asked questions

What if the label is in a language I do not read?

Ask the adviser on the confirmation call to go through the ingredient list and directions with you, and ask your pharmacist about anything that is unclear.

Where do I find the amounts per capsule?

Amounts per capsule are printed on the pack, and the adviser can read them out on the confirmation call.

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